art
incubator

Brown Art Ink1

DONATEfollow
1. Founded by Amanda Figueroa and Ravon Ruffin in 2018.

Brown Art Ink is an incubator that nurtures the arts ecosystem for people of color through ethically sustainable processes for design, archives, and curation.

amanda figueroa, co-founder, coo
Amanda believes art is a tool to fight economic injustice. This belief is central to her work leading fundraising and other initiatives to unlock institutional resources for artists. She lives in Boston and is completing her PhD at Harvard University.
ravon ruffin, co-founder, ceo
As Community Manager, Ravon leads our efforts in creating deep relationships with artists and local communities. Her practice is a commitment to the futures of BIPOC communities, online and IRL. She is based in Brooklyn.
2. Brown, Adrienne Maree. Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds. Chico, CA: AK Press, 2017.
we operate with two goals in mind

Mission

Ensure opportunities for artists of color to have sustainable art careers with livable wages, fair work conditions, and equitable partnerships with institutions
Invest in the arts at the local-level to support artists, communities, and local economies against displacement and exploitation.3
3. “The People’s Cultural Plan for Working Artists and Communities in New York City,” n.d., https://www.peoplesculturalplan.org/.
4.“Why Public Art Matters” (Americans for the Arts Public Art Network Council, 2018), https://www.americansforthearts.org/by-program/reports-and-data/legislation-policy/naappd/why-public-art-matters-2018
5. Levinas, Emmanuel, and Philippe Nemo. Ethics and Infinity: Conversations with Philippe Nemo. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2011.
6. González, Jennifer A. Subject to Display: Reframing Race in Contemporary Installation Art. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2011.
7. Bishop, Claire, and Dan Perjovschi. Radical Museology: Or, Whats Contemporary in Museums of Contemporary Art? London: Koenig, 2014.
current project

Women-in-Residence

Women-in-Residence is an archival database, to document the presence of Black, Indigenous, and of color women-identifying (BIWOC) artists and arts workers. These women take residence in museums, galleries, and in our communities, shaping and expanding the possibilities for care, criticality, and equity in the arts. Search a network of contemporary BIWOC artists and arts workers whose work is largely underrepresented or documented.8
view the project
8. Shaw, A. (2019, January 28). Gallery representation dwindles for 'established' female artists, new research finds. The Art Newspaper.